Shakespeare in Clark Park a summer treat
By Toby Zinman
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Saturday, Aug 05, 2006
You know how, when you're sitting in some public place - a bus, say, or a city park - and suddenly people nearby start to talk about some drama in their lives: a woman they're madly in love with who keeps rejecting them, or an identical twin who has disappeared, or... ? These people are wildly articulate, passionate and fascinating; their stories are terrific - and just when you're completely intrigued, they get off the bus.
But not this time. This time you get to sit in the park and hear their stories to the end.
The Twelfth Night presented in Clark Park by a small troupe of theatrical pros is a remarkable combination of excellent classical acting and disconcertingly contemporary naturalness. Director Tom Reing has found some lovely and funny place where Shakespeare's world and ours meet under a half-moon on a hot summer's night. Bring a blanket and picnic dinner, bring the kids, the dogs, the bicycle, bug spray, a beach chair, whatever - but don't miss this one.
Twelfth Night, like all of Shakespeare's comedies, has a preposterous plot that turns on love and mistaken identities. Briefly: Orsino is in love with Olivia, who wants none of him, no matter how many letters or jewels he woos her with. Meanwhile, back on the high seas, there is a shipwreck, and twins Sebastian and Viola are washed up on the same shore, each assuming the other has drowned.
Viola disguises herself as a young man, goes to work for Orsino, falls in love with him, but has to carry his love letters to Olivia, who falls in love with Viola in her disguise. Sebastian shows up, in the nick of time, for things to get sorted out. There are various subplots involving Olivia's maid Maria and unsmiling butler Malvolio, an alcoholic cousin, and various other ridiculous members of her household.
The cast is excellent, coping on Thursday night with unreliable microphones and 90-plus-degree heat - and the occasional dog - with unfailing charm. As Orsino, Michael Krek transforms this often-sappy role with melancholy elegance, and as Malvolio, Bradley Wrenn nearly steals the show, with some serious competition from Ben Cromie as Sir Toby Belch and Derick Loafmann as Sir Andrew Aguecheek.
Maria Möller's Olivia seems to fall in love before our eyes, and the big recognition scene between Marla Burkholder's Viola and Robert DaPonte's Sebastian triumphs over the implausibility of the script with moving naturalness.
Clark Park is not just a venue, but a real place, where a perfectly shaped, immense tree provides a set of real theatricality. The actors come down the hill into their next scene, and darkness falls just as the plot turns grim. The company has cobbled together, with borrowed footlights and generosity of talent, a real treat for a summer evening.